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Although I am the most elitist (and intelligence/heritable traits realist) person I know, I acknowledge that good information can come from just about anywhere.

A bum can do nothing productive his whole life, and have one good thought. After that, shoot him; it won't be repeated. But don't deny the thought because of the source (a sneaky form of ad hominem attack; it is separate from a source attack, which is leveled against a publication because it panders to an interest group or baser instincts).

I don't know HHH, nor do I expect he knows of or thinks well of me. However, I think he has brought to the forefront some topics that are worth discussing, whether we agree with him or not:

My attitude on this isn't a pro/con on Hunt-Hendrix, Liturgy, etc. The black metal symposium seemed like an interesting idea. They have raised valid points. We have an opportunity to either talk about these ideas, or not. Whether we like the people involved (or they like us) is irrelevant. Clothing does not make the hipster. Intent makes the hipster.

Whoever said "black metal was always transcendental" had a good point. I don't think I find meaning in Hunt-Hendrix's dichotomy between nihilistic and transcendental black metal. The whole point of black metal is that it is both transcendental and nihilistic, like the New Right (if we're honest about what all the good bands were on about) beliefs it tends to support. By nihilistic I mean it rejects inherent value in favor of experience. There is no inherent value to human life. There is only us making beauty of it, or making shit.

So far humanity has chosen the latter because it can't reign in its desires. I'm thinking about the scene from Until the Light Takes Us where Chris Vikernes is bemoaning the introduction of McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Levis to his pristine town. The corporations didn't do this to you; people being willing to buy this crap did this to you. Our modern society is based on a flat hierarchy, e.g. no kings/no gods/no masters. The result is that people behave like snorting pigs and then blame Jesus, money or Freemasonry for their problems.

At the Devil’s Studio attempts to take the early monolithic style and tweak it sonically to gain effect, and it does so by making a dark immersive world of hanging sheets of resonant sound, but it loses the sinister abstraction and aloofness of the second album.

I find that the failure of much of what is deemed "ambient" music is due to the fact that the layered structure most often employed doesn't allow for more than one prime focus in each song. Burzum is good because diverse sections of music are both built up and interlaced, thus giving strength to each other while reaching out to the fullest extent of their individual goals.

This is always the problem with rock-styled composition applied to electro-symphonic arrangements. Rock allows at best three simultaneous voices: guitars, bass, and voice. Some are with slower songs able to work in two guitars, but any more than that, and the piece becomes confused. Much of this has to do with the requirement for a constant drum-beat, and return to verse-chorus structure within 40 seconds or your audience spaces out.

People bitch like whores about our semi-extensive vocabulary here; then again, people bitch like whores about anything, because they think it makes them seem smart, important, etc.

The ANUS(tm) vocabulary would have been considered normal or even a bit vernacular 200 years ago. It would not have been considered challenging. If you want to know why we don't wimp out... that's one big reason. Never say "yo, go ahead" to entropy.

Here's one good resource for building your vocabulary the easy way: A Word a Day (AWAD) from Wordsmith.org.

For over a decade, this list has mailed out a new word every day, most of them useful in conversation....